IntaForensics have recently assisted a company, Genesis Housing Association, on a case of fraud within the workplace. Our skilled forensic analysts carried out an investigation and produced strong evidence which was used in court to convict 49-year-old Adeshola Dada to five years’ imprisonment.
According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2014 Report, on average, 5% of an organization’s gross annual sales are lost to fraud. The report also indicates that the average case of fraud occurs over a period of at least 18 months before it is detected.
These figures are on the rise and this issue is becoming extremely problematic for company owners and managers. However, what if fraud that is costing you thousands of pounds each year was actually due to a member of your staff? What would you do if your staff were stealing money from you from right under your nose?
Well, that’s exactly what could have happened to the Genesis Housing Association. 49-year-old, Adeshola Dada was an employee in the IT department at the company and had been there for some time. Whilst his job title was officially an ICT Analyst, reports from Southwark Crown Court suggest that his role changed due to the statement about his job. It “involved supporting users with all computer based access and systems performance issues, including password creation and resetting.”
The main way he attempted to carry out the proposed £450,000 of fraud was to divert payments for suppliers into a completely different account. However, not long after this attempt the internal audit team at Genesis came across a payment of exactly £138,788 that had been made to another company. Genesis had no contracts with this company which evidently set alarm bells ringing. However, without this internal audit Dada would have simply got away with this scam and cost Genesis an astonishing amount of money. The importance of this audit proved extremely valuable to the company – without this the consequences could have been disastrous.
Our team at IntaForensics assisted Genesis with this case and gave strong, factual and well-supported evidence in court. Our team discovered that the attempt to divert the payments was committed by the defendant connecting to the businesses’ systems using the username and password of an employee who was no longer there.
Adeshola Dada was found guilty of two counts of fraud on the 19th August and was sentenced on the 23rd September 2016 to five years’ imprisonment.
Think the team here at IntaForensics can help you? We are more than happy to talk to you about a case that you need digital forensics assistance on. Our highly trained analysts carry out the highest quality investigations, creating evidence that is concise and strong for court purposes. Please contact us on 02477 717 780 to speak to a member of our team.